caulfield12

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ May 30, 2007 -> 03:30 PM) So it has nothing to do with the fact that are offense doesnt score past the 3rd inning, that Jon Garland walked 5 batters, that Mac loaded the bases in the 9th or the error in the ninth. We have to be able to trust any of our bullpen to win games in tight spots. You cant always depend on one guy. Konerko definitely deserves a 25% share of the blame, along with our offense after Baker left, Ozzie's decision making with the pen is probably 25%, and Garland's lack of control...I don't think they would have gotten an out anywhere on the field with forceout, it would have been an interesting play at first, but Cintron doesn't have the arm to get the ball there from deep in the hole.

QUOTE(briguy27 @ May 30, 2007 -> 03:28 PM) 5 days off. WHY?!!?!?!? I'm hoping Cowley and Gonzalez and Gregor will have the temerity to ask...

QUOTE(briguy27 @ May 30, 2007 -> 03:25 PM) yea but ozzie could of brought in jenks and wouldnt have to worry about anything. jenks hasnt pitched in what, 8 days? May 25th versus TB, one inning

QUOTE(AirScott @ May 30, 2007 -> 03:20 PM) Somebody except the closer pitching the 9th is accepted baseball managing mentality. Everyone does it, saving the closer for later. The obvious question is, "How do you get to later?" Like sliding into first, this mentality probably won't go away and madden many, many people. Scioscia almost always uses K-Rod to "shorten the game" in these situations, despite their fine bullpen. And Gardenhire used Nathan in a tie game, although it was "at home."

QUOTE(winninguglyin83 @ May 30, 2007 -> 03:15 PM) until we improve our drafting, player development and minor league system, we're going to struggle to be consistent. can't keep counting on rejects from other teams -- like Sisco, Aardsma, MacDougal, Masset, Cintron, Pods, Toby Hall. Oakland didn't want to keep Dye nobody else wanted Iguchi Colorado gave up on Uribe Arizona wouldn't start Cintron at SS LA bailed on Erstad's huge contract droves of people weren't after AJ, Hermanson or El Duque Jenks was waived by Angels Contreras was dumped for Loaiza, even though Esteban's arm was falling off Seattle gave up on Thornton Really, the only "desired" players on our team were Crede, Konerko (after two other organizations threw in the towel), Thome (after Philadelphia dumped him for Howard), Buehrle, Garland, Vazquez (by KW and a few GM's who have fallen in love with him) and Danks, pretty much. Except we lost that CHIP ON OUR SHOULDER sometime in the late October nights of 05...and really lost it around the All-Star break of 06.

QUOTE(AirScott @ May 30, 2007 -> 03:13 PM) Weathers lessens the burden on them, so they can build up their confidence by not having to pitch in the 8th or 9th all the time. Who would you rather see on in the 9th in this particular game? Weathers has walked 8 batters this season. Aardsma has given 15 a free pass, and same with MacDougal. Jenks. This is a game you have to win, and you use him for two innings, at least. It's coming early, last year the White Sox being swept (and passed) by the Twins was the harbinger of doom, this year it's not even June and the Sox are Dead Man Walking. There's only a handful of players on this team that even consistently hustled...Ozuna, Erstad, Sweeney, Thome and Terrero.

QUOTE(AirScott @ May 30, 2007 -> 03:11 PM) You can't guarantee that. Plus, like I said, the Cincy park sees the most homers in baseball. And Sisco would need to throw strikes, first. We're beyond David Weathers at this point...we have two relievers now. Last year we had three. This team and organization are sinking like the Lusitania.

QUOTE(AirScott @ May 30, 2007 -> 03:07 PM) Does anybody agree with me, that we make a move for David Weathers of the Reds? He's 37 years old, he had a 2.08 ERA before his latest outing shot it up to 4.30, but his WHIP is 1.08 and he hasn't allowed a homer this season, even as a member of the team whose park has the most home runs in the majors. Like I've said, he's someone who can't be described as shaky. I just don't think the bullpen is that far off. MacDougal and Aardsma might be SHOT mentally, perhaps for the rest of the season. Since the Thames homer, Aardsma has been pitching about as well as Dewon Day. MacDougal can't be your set-up man walking one hitter per inning...not throwing 93-95 instead of 96-98, he's not missing enough bats now. This team doesn't need David Weathers, we need an enema, starting with KW and OG. We almost always find a way to lose to the Twins in their park, and they almost always let us do that...and they hustle throughout the line-up. Owned by the Twins five of the past six years, and counting. What new?

QUOTE(TitoMB345 @ May 30, 2007 -> 03:01 PM) Losing a game after being 6-1 via the bases loaded walk... NOTHING LIKE WHITE SOX BASEBALL!! Firesale time! Get it done Kenny. I want to be a winning team again in 2 years. Ship out everyone but Garland and Konerko. Why keep Garland, wasn't he partially responsible for today's loss TOO?

QUOTE(winninguglyin83 @ May 30, 2007 -> 02:57 PM) Aardsma won't do any better than Logan. Didn't Hunter have a double to LCF on Monday in this same exact situation after Logan got Morneau out? Can't wait for the second guessing, lol. The Twins' announcers were going crazy thinking they were actually going to leave him in, Sox fans are cringing with Aardsma, knowing how he's pitched recently. UGH. Catch-22. Then there's another group who would prefer to bring in Jenks, but he could be very wild after not pitching for 4-5 games.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 30, 2007 -> 02:50 PM) Like how we didn't pitch MacDougal last night in a blow out....it sure would be nice to try and get his confidence up in non-pressure outings before throwing him out into a tie game. Only in Minnesota. Perfect! It's almost getting to be laughable, I actually expected something bad to happen on that play...like throwing it down the LF line.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 30, 2007 -> 02:48 PM) Way to walk the least powerful hitter in the history of baseball. 16 walks in less than 18 IP...I would rather have someone hit their way on and beat us by swinging the bat against Aardsma than MacDougal.

QUOTE(chisoxfan79 @ May 30, 2007 -> 02:46 PM) See you guys later I have to get ready for work. It's probably better to miss this. Tyner will walk, steal and Punto/Pirahna will drive him in.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ May 30, 2007 -> 02:44 PM) Can't bring in Jenks until we take a lead why waste him? Because we'll be out of the division race and won't even need Jenks at this rate. We need to win this game, period. You blow a 6-1 lead and then send MacDougal out there, you're sending a signal to your team that you're giving up.

QUOTE(CYGarland @ May 30, 2007 -> 02:43 PM) Macdougal in.........game over This is sickening, you put a guy with 15 walks and numerous wild pitches/passed balls in 17 innings, in the most important inning of the most important game so far this season??? And the best we have is MacDougal? We are DOOMED.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 30, 2007 -> 02:40 PM) What a fantastic 0-5 for Erstad. I'll tell you what, he isn't a good hitter, but he's one of the best players you'll ever see. What happened? Someone rob Iguchi of a homer? It might have been a homer, but Kubel made it exciting...he drifted with it, back to the wall, instead of just going back to the wall and waiting for it to come down. Sort of a humpback liner, just didn't elevate it enough. A Tale of Two Bullpens here today folks, six shutout innings. EDIT: WE OBVIOUSLY DON'T WANT TO WIN THIS GAME, WHY SHOULD WE EVEN WATCH????

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ May 30, 2007 -> 02:39 PM) 3 pitches and 2 outs. What a dumb group of hitters we have. There's this season in a nutshell...a day late and a dollar short. I'll be shocked in the Twins don't win now.

QUOTE(WSoxMatt @ May 30, 2007 -> 02:36 PM) Jenks should start the Bottom of the 9th If he starts anyone but Jenks (such as MacDougal or Aardsma) in the bottom of the 9th, he should have his head examined. He needs for Jenks to go 2 innings today, this game is that important IMO. Nathan might be able to go 3, unfortunately.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 30, 2007 -> 08:44 AM) Boy you would think we are mathematically eliminated by the talk on this board. This team isnt supposed to lose a single series I take it? I think it's a few things... 1) It's the Twins, AGAIN (see Burke getting run over by Hunter, Guillen dubbing the Piranhas in 06 or AJ/Morneau in 2007, we never seem to come out on the plus side) 2) Our starting pitching is now struggling for the first time since the Opening Week 3) Our bullpen is the worst in the AL statistically, and close to the lead in blown saves as well 4) The Twins are playing without Mauer and Rondell White, our excuse is that we're missing Pods? Because we really haven't had the "real" Pods since July of 2005 and will be unlikely to ever see him again. 5) Physically, our players look beaten...and the loss last night, you saw little fight in the Sox. Yeah, you could say they were flat, some will argue Ozzie's lost the clubhouse, but there's been something missing with this club going on four months now, and that makes it hard to believe it's just going to magically "fix itself."

QUOTE(29thandPoplar @ May 30, 2007 -> 08:48 AM) Good point, Crede Konerko Dye and Iguchi are underperforming badly. Every GM gambles each offseason. If you gamble too much you lose. White Sox took a lot of risks betting things would go right. Things have not gone right in lots of ways. My guess is the trade market is not open yet all across baseball. I suppose that is normal for end of May. So what do you do. You either stick with your guys and hope they come back to the mean or you rely on your minor league system to give you a spark with a hot hand. Sox have few if any really hot hands at Charlotte or AA. Maybe Owens is due for a look as was mentioned by a poster last eve. Last night was an embarassment and Jackson really called them out on the broadcast. Loved it! One thing i will say is I have seen quite enough of Uribe. Love his defense in general but he is not a heady baseball player, messes up at bats, and does not appear to be a captain out there in the IF. Don't know how you replace him but for one I have seen enough. It seems strange to be saying, we need to get rid of Uribe, as he's supposed to be in the "prime" of his career, as he just turned 28. When you consider the probability we'll lose or trade Crede, that gives us a player (starter) younger than 30 at which positions? Konerko is 31, so after Uribe and Crede, he would have to be the player considered closer to the highest level of productivity...and therein lies the problem. We're simply old, and the players who are not old (Konerko and Crede) are slow. So we're old and slow, a deadly combination without great starting pitching, bullpen, defense and clutch hitting. At some point this season, we'll be playing Terrero, Owens, Sweeney and Fields to see what we have for 2008. I think BA is likely to get traded, as I don't see Ozzie quitting or KW getting fired any time soon. Terrero just turned 27 and Owens is already 26, so we're behind the curve with those guys, but we have little or no choice for now. Pods and Cintron aren't the future of this organization, so even the Andy Gonzalezes of the world should get some at-bats to see what they can do. ''This is a different situation,'' Jones said. ''[The Twins were] a bunch of guys who came up together, they played together, took their lumps together and got better together. Here, you bring different guys in from different places, and you've got to mesh and learn to play together and feel each other out. It takes a little time. But we have a good group (speaking about the Cubs).'' I think KW brought in so many different players in 06 and 07 that the White Sox are essentially having the same problem as the Cubs. He might have tinkered too much. I'm not going to pronounce that Rowand and Chris Young patrolling our outfield would have us in first place or even above 85 wins...and I think almost all of KW's moves in the offseason after the World Series were warmly greeted, with the exception of the Vazquez move, and that one was understandable, as it made more sense to go all out to get back to the playoffs in 2006. Now it looks like a bad move, we'll see what he gets in return for Javier or one of the other pitchers he might trade to bring in an outfielder comparable to Young. Even then, it's creating a weakness, unless you consider Masset, Gio, Russell or Floyd capable of being the fifth starter.

QUOTE(joeynach @ May 29, 2007 -> 09:56 PM) I think everyone realizes KW lack of viable players at positions like SS,LF,CF, etc. Everyone in this town wanted an upgrade at all those positions and we got nothing and Erstad. Thats on the GM. Pods is fragile and a bad fielder and streaky, and Uribe is terrible and sports the worst OBP in baseball and KW does nothing. Erstad and Pods (if healthy, another KW miscalculation) would have been fine if Crede, Thome, Konerko, Dye, Iguchi and even AJ were providing their "normal" power numbers. We could live with the numbers of those two, and even Uribe, if the other six guys were playing at the level we expected, with a regression to mean plugged into the equation for JD. KW had one of the best "low cost/value" signings of the offseason in Erstad (for a bad one, see Toma Ohka and how far going cheap went for the Blue Jays in their rotation). If we didn't have him, we'd be stuck with Owens or Sweeney or Mackowiak out there again, assuming BA is really so far in the doghouse that nothing can rescue him. Then you have the "misses" on Sisco and the general struggling of the youngish bullpen, which has been an unexpected development, since it was the ONE area most Sox fans saw an improvement from 2006. In fact, after last night, we're sitting in the mid 5's in terms of Bullpen ERA and last in the AL. Combine that with the lack of speed on this team and we're now the Oakland A's without the same quality of pitching, 1-12, on their MLB roster.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ May 30, 2007 -> 07:46 AM) No offense taken. I'll go ahead and disagree in return though. I don't see anyone in the Sox minor league system that is likely to be even an average major league starting position player or a top of the rotation pitcher. Of all those guys, only Gio has major league quality stuff (low-90's fatsball and a quality breaking pitch). And he has to prove he and his straight fastball can avoid HRs in a park like Charlotte's before anyone can really predict major league success. Egbert and Russel are having OK years in a big park and can at least be considered prospects. De Los Santos has had a good game in A ball. Floyd, Haeger, Broadway, and McCulloch are non-prospects at this point. Does anyone think the Sox are going to get a sub-6.50 ERA out of any of those guys at the big league level? The big problem is that the Sox don't have a single prospect as good as any of one of as Baker, Garza, Slowey, Bonser, and Liriano. No one in the Sox organization projects as a top-flight starter. Fields has an atrocious contact rate and will struggle just like BA at the big league level. BA still has his own contact problem and simply cannot hit major league pitching (I saw a stat about his contact rate against breaking balls recently -- I don't remember what it was precisely, but it was terrible). In any case, BA is done in Chicago. Sweeney has never hit for power, even in Charlotte. He has never dominated at any level of the minors. The Sox will be lucky if he has Sean Burroughs career. Cunningham has been struggling in A ball after a hot start and guys like Carter (decent A ball power numbers and suspect 1B glove) are all over the minor leagues. It's true the Sox have some prospects, but just because they are the Sox top prospects doesn't mean they are good prospects. I can't comment on most of the proposed trades because I just don't know enough, but I'm pretty sure that package wouldn't bring back Saltalamachia alone let Salty and Escobar. An aging overpriced starter, a bullpen guy with an ERA over 6, a CF prospect that hasn't hit a lick for a player that could bring back someone like Mark Texiera or one of Tampa's OFs? I don't see the Braves doing it... Baker has good stuff, but that doesn't mean anything at all. Slowey profiles more like a Matt Guerrier or Josh Stewart type. I see him as a very good AAA starter who struggles in the major leagues. I actually think Perkins might end up as a better starter in 2-3 years. We'll find out soon enough with Slowey as well, he's supposed to replace Ortiz in the rotation. I'll ask again, when's the last time the Twins produced an everyday starting pitcher from within their organization? The answer is Brad Radke. You could take 100 scouts and give them a choice between Bonser/Garza/Baker/Slowey/Perkins and Gio/Floyd/Russell/Masset/Danks and about 70-80% of them would take the White Sox prospects. I give a lot of credit to the Twins, but they're also going to be hard-pressed to compete against the Tigers and Indians given the lack of production from LF (unless Kubel steps up and becomes an everyday player), 3B and SS. They're missing a big bat almost as much as the White Sox are. Look how long it has taken Kubel and Cuddyer to become solid players, even Morneau struggled for much of his first two seasons, until June of last year, when he was about to go to the minors. Mauer is one of the few who contributed right away, but he wasn't great as a rookie, just very good (when healthy). The White Sox are going to need to have a lot of patience with Fields. Unfortunately, he fits well into their "all or nothing" offensive approach. Sweeney and Owens are more the type of players the White Sox need...better contact, better fundamentals, doubles and triples hitters...at least what they are projected to be. The question with every move the Sox make...does it make us younger? Faster/more athletic? Cheaper? We're heading into another crisis with our catching situation in a year, since Lucy and Francisco Hernandez and whoever you can name are far from projected everyday catchers in the major leagues. This has always been a weakness in the system, from Kurt Brown to Joel Skinner, from Mark Johnson to Olivo. Heck, having Ron Karkovice's equivalent will be nice in 1-2 years, but I highly doubt we'll see another catcher who can bunt so well in our lifetimes.

QUOTE(beautox @ May 30, 2007 -> 05:08 AM) no offense but i totally disagree with this statement. we've got some interesting pieces coming up thorough our system. Gio, Egbert, Russel, Masset, Floyd if he gets it together and De Los Santos is a ways away, then there is Haeger, Broadway & McCulloch As far as position prospects we've got Fields, Sweeney, Anderson, Carter, and Cunningham. Carter is showing big time power and an exceptional eye, he looks to be the heir apparent to 1B. We also have a good mix of interesting BP arms; all is not lost for sox fans. This Team needs an influx of youth and speed to go along with the station to station baseball we've bore witness to for so long. The Kids need to play. If i we're KW these are the moves i would make this offseason provided we let mark, iguchi and dye walk. Trade AJP and Uribe to the Blue Jays for OF Travis Snider & RHP Graham Godfrey. Their current SS is Royce Clayton and Zaun is on the DL and the decline. Snider is a very young OF with a ton of potential and tools unfortunately they Jays already have a stacked OF(Lind/Wells/Rios) That gives the sox an additional 10.5 to play with to go along with the 10mil they cleared when they traded Garcia. Trade Jose along with Anderson and possibly Mmac if he gets his ERA down to something respectable or another BP arm(Sans Jenks, Thornton, Aardsma, Masset) for C Jarrod Saltalamacchia and SS Yunel Escobar. Salty is blocked by McCann and his value lies behind the dish, not to say his bat couldn't carry him to 1B, and Escobar is among the throngs of SS the braves have at both the ML and Milb level (Renteria/Andrus/Lillibridge/Fontaine). Jose is old, but he is still putting up good numbers and at times dominates, i think a change to the NL would only further that at 10mil a year he's a steal for the next two years, Kyle Davies hasn't lived up to expectations and they're still paying Hampton to sit on the DL. Both Brandon Jones and Matt Harrison won't be ready for another season and a half. Andruw Jones is going to become a FA and they'll need a CF who can cover ground like him and still has some power potential; enter BA i think he needs a change of scenery and consistent ML ABs. Mmac is a constant injury risk but when he is healthy and on hes a great setup man/closer. I just don't see us getting an All star caliber back stop that is great defensively calls a good game and knows how to hit with out giving up a bit. Trade Joe Crede to one of the following teams The Giants or Angels for one of the following 4 players: From the Giants 2B Kevin Frandsen or 2B Marcus Sanders; From the Angels MI Erik Aybar or MI Sean Rodriguez. The Angels have Kendrik and Cabrera at SS & 2B respectively, and the Giants have Durham for 1 more season and the other 2B who doesn't get traded. Try and get anything you can for Scott Podsednik & Alex Cintron, if not non tender. Sign one of the following FA CF. Ichiro (5/90) Jones (8/$138M) Hunter(6/85) Rowand(6/85) Fukudome(3/8-10) With the money saved from making the moves stated above along with letting Mark, Dye & Iguchi walk the sox should easily be able to afford a marquee CFer. Along with all those moves i would extend Jon to a 5 year deal (5/58?), jon gives us 200 innings has been incredibly durable and an ERA+ of 110 over the past 3 years on average and takes some preasure off the up and coming arms. Also give Terrero enough rope for this season to either build a bridge into 08 or hang himself. So now i present my version of the '08 white sox LF - Erstad L SS - Escobar R DH - Thome L 1B - Konerko R CF - Jones R C - Saltallamachia S 3B - Fields R RF - Sweeney L 2B - Aybar S Erstad is merely a place holder unless we sign Ichiro in which case i would keep him as a bench player/all around good guy. With having acquired Snider and Cunningham developing we still need someone to fill in one of the 3 OF spots. SP Garland Vazquez Danks Masset Gio/Egbert/Broadway/Floyd/Haeger BP Jenks Aardsma Thornton Logan(LOOGY) Wassermann(ROOGY) Russel/Perez/Vasquez/Reynoso/Sisco/Day Bench Hall Mackowiak Gonzalez Terrero Ozuna?? There is alot of question marks up and down the roster i would be the first to admit it, but if we expect to contend in 2-3 years you have to role the dice, the team to be is going to be Cleveland for what appears to be a long time. The tigers are getting old like us around the diamond but they've got alot of good young pitching, and the twins are weird place after this coming season. the royals still need alot of pitching. anyways just my .02 Andruw Jones is getting too old if we're in "rebuilding" mode, it all depends on how much of our starting rotation is retained...if we keep all of our starters from this year for next year, then you THINK about adding a Jones, Hunter, Ichiro, etc., for one last gasp at contention. Wasserman? We're in trouble if we can't do any better than that. Crede is going to have to dramatically increase his level of play to get any of the players that were mentioned...and Aybar's OPS and OBP marks leave a lot to be desired for him to be a full-time starter at SS or 2B. I don't think Uribe's going to have an easy time being perceived as a potential starter by other teams if he keeps this up. The line-up you're putting out there has six "question marks," although I guess it can't be any worse than what we have now...OTOH, it would be impossible to trot out that line-up and say we're not rebuilding for 2008.

QUOTE(beautox @ May 30, 2007 -> 05:08 AM) no offense but i totally disagree with this statement. we've got some interesting pieces coming up thorough our system. Gio, Egbert, Russel, Masset, Floyd if he gets it together and De Los Santos is a ways away, then there is Haeger, Broadway & McCulloch As far as position prospects we've got Fields, Sweeney, Anderson, Carter, and Cunningham. Carter is showing big time power and an exceptional eye, he looks to be the heir apparent to 1B. We also have a good mix of interesting BP arms; all is not lost for sox fans. This Team needs an influx of youth and speed to go along with the station to station baseball we've bore witness to for so long. The Kids need to play. If i we're KW these are the moves i would make this offseason provided we let mark, iguchi and dye walk. Trade AJP and Uribe to the Blue Jays for OF Travis Snider & RHP Graham Godfrey. Their current SS is Royce Clayton and Zaun is on the DL and the decline. Snider is a very young OF with a ton of potential and tools unfortunately they Jays already have a stacked OF(Lind/Wells/Rios) That gives the sox an additional 10.5 to play with to go along with the 10mil they cleared when they traded Garcia. Trade Jose along with Anderson and possibly Mmac if he gets his ERA down to something respectable or another BP arm(Sans Jenks, Thornton, Aardsma, Masset) for C Jarrod Saltalamacchia and SS Yunel Escobar. Salty is blocked by McCann and his value lies behind the dish, not to say his bat couldn't carry him to 1B, and Escobar is among the throngs of SS the braves have at both the ML and Milb level (Renteria/Andrus/Lillibridge/Fontaine). Jose is old, but he is still putting up good numbers and at times dominates, i think a change to the NL would only further that at 10mil a year he's a steal for the next two years, Kyle Davies hasn't lived up to expectations and they're still paying Hampton to sit on the DL. Both Brandon Jones and Matt Harrison won't be ready for another season and a half. Andruw Jones is going to become a FA and they'll need a CF who can cover ground like him and still has some power potential; enter BA i think he needs a change of scenery and consistent ML ABs. Mmac is a constant injury risk but when he is healthy and on hes a great setup man/closer. I just don't see us getting an All star caliber back stop that is great defensively calls a good game and knows how to hit with out giving up a bit. Trade Joe Crede to one of the following teams The Giants or Angels for one of the following 4 players: From the Giants 2B Kevin Frandsen or 2B Marcus Sanders; From the Angels MI Erik Aybar or MI Sean Rodriguez. The Angels have Kendrik and Cabrera at SS & 2B respectively, and the Giants have Durham for 1 more season and the other 2B who doesn't get traded. Try and get anything you can for Scott Podsednik & Alex Cintron, if not non tender. Sign one of the following FA CF. Ichiro (5/90) Jones (8/$138M) Hunter(6/85) Rowand(6/85) Fukudome(3/8-10) With the money saved from making the moves stated above along with letting Mark, Dye & Iguchi walk the sox should easily be able to afford a marquee CFer. Along with all those moves i would extend Jon to a 5 year deal (5/58?), jon gives us 200 innings has been incredibly durable and an ERA+ of 110 over the past 3 years on average and takes some preasure off the up and coming arms. Also give Terrero enough rope for this season to either build a bridge into 08 or hang himself. So now i present my version of the '08 white sox LF - Erstad L SS - Escobar R DH - Thome L 1B - Konerko R CF - Jones R C - Saltallamachia S 3B - Fields R RF - Sweeney L 2B - Aybar S Erstad is merely a place holder unless we sign Ichiro in which case i would keep him as a bench player/all around good guy. With having acquired Snider and Cunningham developing we still need someone to fill in one of the 3 OF spots. SP Garland Vazquez Danks Masset Gio/Egbert/Broadway/Floyd/Haeger BP Jenks Aardsma Thornton Logan(LOOGY) Wassermann(ROOGY) Russel/Perez/Vasquez/Reynoso/Sisco/Day Bench Hall Mackowiak Gonzalez Terrero Ozuna?? There is alot of question marks up and down the roster i would be the first to admit it, but if we expect to contend in 2-3 years you have to role the dice, the team to be is going to be Cleveland for what appears to be a long time. The tigers are getting old like us around the diamond but they've got alot of good young pitching, and the twins are weird place after this coming season. the royals still need alot of pitching. anyways just my .02 Andruw Jones is getting too old if we're in "rebuilding" mode, it all depends on how much of our starting rotation is retained...if we keep all of our starters from this year for next year, then you THINK about adding a Jones, Hunter, Ichiro, etc., for one last gasp at contention. Wasserman? We're in trouble if we can't do any better than that. Crede is going to have to dramatically increase his level of play to get any of the players that were mentioned...and Aybar's OPS and OBP marks leave a lot to be desired for him to be a full-time starter at SS or 2B. I don't think Uribe's going to have an easy time being perceived as a potential starter by other teams if he keeps this up. The line-up you're putting out there has six "question marks," although I guess it can't be any worse than what we have now...OTOH, it would be impossible to trot out that line-up and say we're not rebuilding for 2008.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ May 29, 2007 -> 11:58 PM) I know Lumsden and Cortes haven't performed, but at this juncture the Sox are paying MacDougal millions to pitch like Dewon Day. The fact that the Royals aren't paying MacDougal makes the trade a win for them. I thought MacDougal was going to be a strength of the club going into this season. His 2005 & 2006 numbers were really good & the idea of getting a "closer quality" setup man is great. These days, starters get you into the 7th so you need both a decent closer and setup man. Plus Mac seemed like good insurance in case Jenks arm fell off. So far, I've been very wrong. Since I don't know why Mac has pitched so poorly, I really have no idea how likely it is that he'll pull out of it. He is 30 with high impact delivery. It's possible that he is injured even though his velocity isn't down. OTOH, Moore looks pretty silly to have kept Emil Brown on the roster for $3.5 million, as well as Reggie Sanders and trading for Gathright. Elarton has been a bust so far, and Hudson a non-factor due to injuries. Greinke MIGHT be coming into his own as a reliever, although he's yet to put two really solid months together as a starter. The jury's still out on Ryan Shealy, but I don't think he will ever be much of a frontline starter at 1B in the AL. Pena Jr. MIGHT be better than Berroa, but not by much...although I guess you have to blame Baird for another long-term deal for Angel, who has spent most of his time ensconced in Omaha. Jason LaRue has looked very bad...in fact, incumbent starter John Buck might be the only Royal worthy of All-Star consideration, along with Meche, despite his recent disaster. At any rate, Gordon, Teahen, DeJesus, Butler, Hochevar, Costa, etc., are the future of the Royals. I don't think I'd make them a favorite over the White Sox for 08 and 09 until their starting pitching looks to be in better shape. Jorge De La Rosa is as far from a solid #2 starter as you can get in the big leagues.